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Rh MR. SCHIFF: Mr. Simpson, you described understanding Perkins Coie's client was likely to be DNC because of the long relationship between the two. Did you know who Free Beacon was doing the work for?

MR. SIMPSON: I don't know that they were doing the work for anyone. I mean, it's a foundation. So it's a freestanding entity, to my knowledge.

MR. SCHIFF: Well, without getting into conversations, client conversations, can you tell us what you know about the Free Beacon and why they were likely employing you to do this kind of work?

MR. SIMPSON: I think they were from the wing of the Republican party that was concerned about a takeover of the party by the Donald Trump wing. And as you probably know, there was a pretty brutal struggle during the primaries between the more traditional conservatives and the more sort of populist, nationalist, protectionist conservatives. So I think they were from the free markets arm of the party.

MR. SCHIFF: And do you know whether it was their intention to -- I mean, I only know of them as a very conservative publication. Do you know whether it was their intention to publish the information that you provided them or to provide it to one of the GOP opponents of Mr. Trump, or more than one of the opponents?

MR. SIMPSON: I can tell you that the information that we gathered appeared in print in various places, not just the Beacon. And I don't have any specific knowledge of it being provided to a particular candidate, or at least not in any kind of -- I don't think that they were a proxy for a specific candidate, not to my knowledge.

MR. SCHIFF: So you saw your work product, what you could recognize as your work product appear in various publications, not just theirs? UNCLASSIFIED, COMMITTEE SENSITIVE